Top Ten Tips for Checking Hotel Review Sites

 

Online holiday reviews, should you read them?

When you plan a fabulous getaway either with your family, lover, friend or even alone it's tempting, many would say sensible, to read the reviews of people that have gone before. But how to make sense of reviews of the same hotel that range from "it was appalling I would rather sleep under a railway arch, 1 star" to "amazing stay it was incredible in every respect, totally recommend, 5 stars!" ?

Here are my top ten tips on breaking down reviews, and making sense of them.

• Check where the reviewer is from. With a global reach the internet has reviewers from all over the world. Pay more attention to reviewers from your own country as they will usually have similar expectations to you. Americans for example may mark down a hotel with no free ice machine, while the average Brit doesn't expect free ice as standard so may not mention it.

• See if the reviewer has left lots of reviews or just this one. This is particularly relevant if the review is terrible as people are fast to complain but not so quick to praise. On TripAdvisor for example you can look back over other reviews from the same person. If they review a lot and the reviews vary, then it's safe to assume they are probably fairly honest and balanced.

• Check who was in the reviewers party. Reviews for families will vary a lot from reviews for romantic getaways or adventure type holidays. Complaints of noise can be  relative and might be due to guests at the time of the visit and thus not an ongoing issue. Moans about a busy kids club on a romantic weekend might translate into the perfect child minding plan for a family with 3 young children.

• Pay more attention if all of the reviews are similar. If everyone mention food poisoning and under cooked chicken over several months then it would raise alarm bells. Constant mentions of dirty rooms etc likewise. While one bad review among a lot of good ones probably just shows the hotel has a bad cleaner or a busy week.

• Read the review not just the stars! Amazingly some people post a glowing review but only give 1 or 2 stars for the experience. I'm never sure if they are just holding back for the really fantastic hotels  (for example they may feel a 3 star hotel never deserves more than a 3 star review) , if they clicked the wrong button, or just have no clue how star ratings work! Likewise I've seen 5 star reviews that made the hotel sound awful!

• Think about what you expect in a hotel. I like a clean room, a TV,wifi,  a fridge and a balcony. If reviews moaned about a tatty reception area I wouldn't be that fussed. If they said their TV was broken, the wifi didn't work in any of the rooms and the balcony had been unsafe I would be more interested!

• Check the date on reviews. It is really easy to read reviews that are years old and be fooled into thinking the hotel is excellent or terrible based on very out of date information. Sort the reviews by date if you can and read the most recent ones. I have been caught out this way - turning up to discover the 'free' wifi was no longer free and the hot tub was no longer working - sad times.

• Try and check more than one review site. TripAdvisor is a large site but there are others such as Oyster, Holiday Watchdog, and Travel Republic. Also google the hotel name to see if any bloggers have visited and written bigger reviews with extra pictures. Ask on social media too. 

• Read plenty of reviews before you book, and avoid reading any more afterwards! Once you have booked, unless you are prepared to change or cancel your booking, don't torture yourself by reading more reviews.

• When you get home be sure to add your own review. good, bad or in between all reviews are useful to the traveller. Be honest, try to be balanced, include facts and examples not just personal opinions, although a summing up of how you did or did not like the holiday can be useful. I always review the places I visit as I know how helpful reviews can be. On TripAdvisor it's not just the hotels you can review but the local attractions and restaurants too - you could even review those that are local to you at home.

Do you write reviews online? Do you read them? I'd love to hear your experiences (good and bad) of using online review sites.

This post is (bizarrely) not sponsored ;-)

Easter Plans

It's nearly Easter holiday time! If you are a stay at home parent for any reason you might not feel the same frisson of excitement that I do, but this year I've booked a week off work and so I'm free to stay in bed until noon, drink cava for breakfast and have sex in the garden all afternoon  spend more time with the teen and the husband.

Said teen is a studious soul and currently studying for her GCSEs so I fear she'll be revising a fair bit but I'm hoping I can lure her out for some fun at least once or twice.

I have a few things that I have been wanting to do for a while, and while I know I won't be able to do them all I thought I'd list them so I don't forget and also so that if you had input on whether they were good or bad ideas you could tell me! Ditto if you have reviewed any of them in a blog post - please share! (You can't share here, I switched comments off, but let me know via Twitter or my Facebook page - that would be great - thanks)

First choice for me is Marwell Zoo. We have visited several times now as a family and always love it - even in the cold and rain, though I admit it's better on a dry day so the weather may play a part on this decision. We always learn something new, the cages and environments for the animals are really nice, I especially love watching the giraffes. It's about a 2 hour drive, so takes a bit of planning, but now that we no longer have the dogs at least we don't have to rush home to them.

I am sort of tempted to make the even longer drive to Longleat to drive the safari park, but I'm not sure that DH would stay sane all day in car with DD and me. I do love to watch the large carnivores in the park, particularly the wolves, but DH tends to get twitching and want to be getting on with things, I imagine we would be ill-matched on a safari park visit. I think that might need to be a trip we do when we visit family (who live closer to the park) or when we can camp or stay nearby so we are in the car less of the day.

Next is the Winchester Science Centre. DD and I were there for a blogging conference and so had no time to explore but enough time to whet our appetites. It's easy to get to, has lots of parking and is spacious inside. It didn't look too busy when we were there, but I'm not sure that would be true during a school holiday. Still DD really wants to go, she loves experimenting with stuff, I do wonder though if there is enough there for a day with a teenager? Maybe I could combine it with a trip into Winchester? Have you been? What did you think?

I would also love to make a trip to London. That's a 2 hour train ride away and therefore expensive, I may have to buy a railcard to make some sort of saving, especially since now that DD has turned 16 she counts as a grown up and has to pay not only on the train, but on London transport too - gone are the days of cheap days out to London. If we all go, and if we want to be in London before lunchtime it will cost us over £100 on tickets alone, so anything we do there will have to be free! I have thought about Tate Modern, DD and I have visited and really enjoyed it, DH has yet to experience it so that would be nice. If the weather was good a walk in the parks or by the river would be nice too. I am also looking at driving a large chunk of the way and parking just outside the centre, have you done that? I need to investigate parking and where is cheap, easy and safe! What other free London activities can you think of?

It's been a while since I've been to Brighton as a tourist and so I might think about doing the 'seaside day visitor' thing, with fish and chips on the pier, a walk along the promenade, a trip to the Marina and maybe the Pavilion. I could even squeeze in some shopping in the Laines or Churchill Square - particularly if I don't spend all my money on a trip to London! I know that lovely DD aka the teen, needs some new clothes for college in September and we did promise her a new 'college capsule wardrobe' (ooh there's a blog post just waiting to be written) so that would take up a day by itself.

During the entire week of course I will be drinking more alcohol than usual, staying up later, sleeping in longer and eating more chocolate than usual. It is a holiday after all. What will you be up to?

Come and chat over on Twitter or my Facebook page I'd love to hear from you

Ten things I love about Christmas

• Time with my family. Not everyone gets to have time off over Christmas, and this year I have to work on Boxing Day, but I do love time with my family. Visiting distant relatives is easier too as roads are less busy (assuming you drive at what is usually the rush hour) and it's lovely to sit and just be, with people you love.
• Mince pies. People get a bit weird if you eat them at other times of the year, but I do love the slightly sharp, slightly sweet, often alcohol infused, taste of a mince pie. Best made at home with homemade pastry - though I've yet to be brave enough to make my own mincemeat. (and yes American readers, it really is meat - well suet - and fruit, the tudors were big on meat and fruit, and jolly well done I say!) 
• Marzipan. Life should contain more marzipan, Christmas seems happy to take up the slack left by the rest of the year. From marzipan fruits to dark chocolate covered marzipan and marzipan on a cake...mmmm marzipan.
• Eating odd foods at odd times. Turkey leftovers for breakfast, cake for lunch, toast for tea, Christmas seems to be a time when a sudden urge to eat walnuts is acceptable. The joy of eating what you like, when you like is oddly freeing (matched only by festival living) and while one may end up over full, it's only a couple of days so I think we can risk it..another sausage roll?
• Alcohol for breakfast. Bucksfizz, drunk only on wedding mornings and Christmas. An excuse to drink cava or champagne with the strange idea that it's healthy because of the orange juice. (don't have alcohol for breakfast if you are planning to drive and visit relatives, obviously)
• Watching people open gifts. I like getting presents but I know I'm a grown up because I now genuinely prefer to see other people open their gifts. The sight of a child realising as they tear the wrapping that it's the thing they've always (for the last 6 months) wanted...priceless.
• Helping Father Christmas. Sometimes the great man can't be at every house and so it falls to us parents to take up the slack, obviously we don't have to do this every year and he sends us special instructions when we do, but creeping into a sleeping child's room, hearing them (pretending to) sleep, watching the flicker of eyelids as they dream, and then popping their gifts into a stocking, is the best feeling.

• Left overs. Related to the eating anything at anytime, but left overs are great. Bubble and squeak, refried christmas pudding (fry a slice in butter - you're welcome) , picking turkey from the bones when you nip to the fridge for more beer, I love leftovers.
• Christmas lights. I love the festive look the twinkling lights of Christmas give to a home. Once our tree is up adding a coloured warmth to the lounge I never want to take it down.

• Memories. Memories that are being made and memories of Christmases past, each year we buy a new decoration for the tree and so I remember 2 year old DD choosing a shining toy soldier or a 4 year old DD choose a tinkling ginerbreadman bell. Each Christmas stored in a memory on the tree. I look forward to more memories being created this year too. Not all memories are so happy, as we think of loved ones no longer with us, but somehow the warmth and hope of Christmas (or it may be the sherry) let's us remember the happy times we shared with them.

I hope Christmas holds much joy for you and yours. And that memories, even the sad ones,  flow as liberally as the sherry.

Letter to my younger self - would I write one?

People write open letters to their younger selves and share them online. Have I done one yet? I don't think so, and the main reason is that I hate spoilers. I'm not sure my 16 year old self (or my 8 year old or my 12 year old or even my 30 year old) needs to know any of the things that will happen to her.

Look how cute young me is - she should stay spoiler-free I think

DD suggested that I tell her "don't worry about being bullied about walking funny or being terrible at sport as it turns out that at 36 you'll be diagnosed with Charcot-Marie-Tooth, so you are disabled not useless" but I think finding that out at 36 was a blessing really, if I'd known that at 16 would my choices in life have changed? Maybe I wouldn't have been so brave to explore the pyramids in Egypt in my 20s, and maybe my choices in having a child (the simply gorgeous DD) would have been different knowing I carried a hereditary mutant gene that affects the nerves and thus balance and strength throughout the body.

Camel Riding at Giza

I think I might tell 8 year old me not to panic for years about nuclear war, that the 'how to survive a nuclear winter' warnings never became needed (not yet at least) and that working out if you could get home to your parents in 4 minutes was just an unnecessary worry that spoiled times that should be fun, I think I would tell 8 year old me that the government were scaremongering idiots and to just enjoy the long hot summer holidays, because one day you have to go out to work and that's no fun.

Innocence of youth

I wouldn't tell 13 year old me that I would not marry a young teen heart throb (no, not even one of the Bay City Rollers)  but would in fact settle down to live happily for  30 years plus with a man 20 years my senior, I'm fairly sure 13 year old me would be horrified, and probably worried too. 13 year old me also wanted 6 children and I'm not sure telling her that it turns out having one perfect child is just what she needed and will love, would cheer her either.

I wondered if I should tell 19 year old me to get the tattoo! You wanted it and yet you acted so sensible, worrying it would be something you'd wish you had never had. You mentally argued for weeks before deciding to 'wait' and wait you did - until you were 40! But if I'd had my first tattoo in my teens I wouldn't have stopped, I would have lots of tattoos now and less canvas left to work with, and more importantly I wouldn't have been able to take 5 year old DD with me to see me get my 'sewn on' tattoo (as opposed to a temporary 'stick on' tattoo, a type I wore frequently before I had the permanent one. And that memory of mother and daughter, ink and blood, giggles and muffled swears is a memory I treasure.

A similar great memory is the first festival I ever went to - again with DD (and a friend and her daughter) not the drug and booze filled weekend of youth, but a hilarious time to be silly and let our hair down in a field, to discover the horror of festival toilets in the company of a 7 year old is the best fun! no, I don't think younger me needs to be prompted to go to festivals earlier than that.

DD at a festival

 There's no point in upsetting young me with tales of who dies and when, I don't think anyone I've loved has died with things I would like to say to them left unsaid. Maybe I could tell young me not to worry about my parents, that they hang around being just as odd as usual until DD is at least 16, but then I'd have to mention the lack of 6 children, so maybe not.

My mum and me

I certainly wouldn't warn young me of any internet perils! DD has been bridesmaid for a woman I met online, and we have viisted another friend, Mimi in California, twice since I started chatting to her years ago on an internet forum. I have so many online frineds, I think young me will enjoy discovering the fun of meeting new people that way, she always was a little shy.

DD taking her bridemaid role seriously

Is it a case of  je ne regrette rien? I think I'm lucky. I am 50. I have had an interesting life, a fun one. I have a house, family, I've travelled, owned dogs, had tattoos, and a child. I hope the next 50 years are as enjoyable.

Meeting Larry the wolf boy in the Californian Freak Show while visiting Mimi

So, Dear Young Me, enjoy yourself, you have so much excitement ahead. (oh but ask someone to buy you shares in Apple for your 15th birthday - trust me on that one)

My Sunday

What's your Sunday like?

My Sunday is a lazy family day. We used to have dogs to walk but now they are gone it is a lazier day than ever, a sort of mini-Christmas day each week.

I tend to have a lie in, until about 8.30 when Mr TM  - a ridiculously early riser - will start to get bored and lonely and begin  to make 'accidental noise' and blunder about the bedroom 'looking for things' finally he will say 'oh did I wake you? shall we have breakfast?' I will get up, pretending not to be furious at being woken, and we will have breakfast, later we will wake the teen.

Then a few chores, this week I defrosted the freezer, before I open a bottle of cava to drink while I listen to the Archers on BBC Radio4 and join the Archers tweet-along on Twitter. As I listen and drink and tweet I prepare the roast, peeling potatoes, making stuffing, proper multi-tasking over a hot ipad stove.

Meanwhile the teen will be arguing that she doesn't need to tidy her room, and will be practising the saxophone instead, Mr TM will be listening a podcast or gardening or playing the piano. We all sit down to eat together soon after midday.

Lunch is cleared away for a snooze on the sofa, then after a skirmish over who should wash up (we don't have a dishwasher and today I lost) the washing up is done. During the afternoon we catch up with anything we fancy, blogging, reading, homework and more music practice. If the weather is nice we may go for a walk, or pop out to a cafe for coffee and cake. Sometimes we will wander the aisles of a supermarket or a garden centre.

We will eat something light for dinner, sandwiches or egg on toast; and later, in the evening, we will all settle down to watch TV together, maybe a movie, usually something prerecorded so we can skip the adverts, although lately we have dared to watch X factor, and even tweet along with that!

We might have cake or biscuits for supper in front of the TV, one of the only days we eat in the lounge, and then we will all be off to bed at about 10pm.

I love my lazy Sundays.

Organised Parent or Relaxed and Wild?

How organised a parent are you? A conversation amongst some other parents today made me wonder. By nature I'm a laid back hippy kind of person, stuff happens, I worry about it when it does and I live a lot of my life unplanned and just thinking 'what's the worst that can happen?'

When Dd was a baby I breastfed and so I was able to leave the house without a range of baby things, just a folding change mat and a spare nappy (not for a trip lasting less than an hour) and maybe a small pack of baby wipes. As DD got older I had to stash potties around the house and took one in the car, but I always forgot snacks (boobs were hard to forget you see!) and drinks, so I often had to buy them out.

*shrug* but whats the worst that can happen?

What's the worst that can happen?

 My husband is totally the opposite, he likes to plan everything for the whole day with timings and disaster plans and plan b's and plan c's in case plan b fails. (this may explain why I love festivals and camping and he doesn't)

When DD started school we started using the calendar a lot more to mark everything from parent teacher meetings to dentist check ups to picnic dates with friends. But DH ever the organised one still feared we might miss something so we also have a whiteboard in the kitchen to write down everything that is happening in the week. We consult the calendar on a Sunday and fill it in.

Mr TM - taking control of the ship

We add what everyone is doing so that adding in new things can be planned around events already booked. For example, on an average week the planner will have DD's music lessons, after school clubs, days she is out with friends, the car MOT, a Drs appt, a reminder to put the bins out, dates homework is due in (by subject), library books due back, an inset day, a half day I've booked as annual leave, a day I'll be late home due to a meeting etc etc

And I confess it does help! We rarely miss things, or double book. Forms are sent in on time for school and we don't get library book fines.

My husband is a SAHD so this also means fabulous home planning! Shopping done, washing all sorted, school uniform washed and dried and ready for Monday, lawns mowed...

But are we over organised? I think I'm starting to feel weird, like the dreaded 'perfect parent' that the internet sneers so hard at. And I can't even take the credit really! It's all down to DH and his planning skills. Maybe because I have to be organised at work I tend to be less organised at home (I doubt it, I think it's just me)

So tell me - are we over planning? Are you already vomiting into a bowl? Do you plan things? Or are you a chaotic house of lost shoes and missing school bags (no judgement, what ever works for you!) I'd love to know, please add a comment below.

And no, you can't have him, I saw him first.

Spying - is it ever OK?

Spying. Is it ever OK.

I’m not talking about countries sending agents undercover, or industrial espionage. I’m not talking hiring private detectives, or wearing false moustaches, or cunning disguises and following people. In fact I don’t really think I mean spying…maybe I’ll start again.

Watching what your kids get up to. Is it ever OK.

Ah that sounds better. More like what I’m going to talk about with the added benefit it makes me sound like less of a weird stalker of my own child.
I adore the DD, infuriating as she can be, and since the age of 8 she has had a mobile phone. At 13 she got a Facebook account and now at 15 she has a laptop of her own, snap chat, twitter, a blog (long neglected!) , email…well you get the picture. She has a busy online life.

When she was younger we added an app to her phone that would either ring the phone when the phone was lost (even if the phone was set to silent) or would send back a location text to the texter (you needed a secret code of course) and she knew about the app, she liked that it helped to find her phone, and she understood that it would also let us find her location if she had the phone with her when she went out.

Once she got Facebook my biggest worry was not her being groomed and kidnapped (though that was up in the top ten worries), my biggest fear was cyberbullying and the worry that she wouldn’t tell me. So I set her email to forward to mine.

Her email still forwards to mine now – I never read the email, I usually just delete it, but there is security in knowing that it’s there. That if there was a problem I can check what’s going on. (Not that that was of any help to Breck Bednar’s mum who knew exactly what was happening and even called the police) DD knows that I get the emails and that I don’t read them. She seems ok with it, my own computer log on at home is not secret; she can check my emails as easily as I can check hers. We are friends on Facebook too, she asked me! And we follow each other on twitter, and Pinterest.
Mainly I’ve found the fact we are open and talk about online issues helps the most, she knows not to reveal too much about herself, she knows that people lie and she will talk to me about things that upset her.

 I read recently that some parents think microchipping their children with GPS tracking chips is the way forward! I was stunned, even I think that's a step too far!

Do you keep an eye on your child’s online life? Is it OK to? And when do you stop! I don’t want to be the spying mum but it’s hard to let go. (Hello Mum, I know you are reading this, I'm fine)

Oh and I do tease DD sometimes…when I get her YouTube notifications…she does watch an awful lot of Tom Daley videos…

What’s been happening in the world of TM - a catch up post

What’s been happening in the world of TM . Well Dry January is finally passed and I managed it without too much hassle. The discovery of a nice non-alcoholic red wine and a non-alcoholic lager did help. I also discovered a fair few juices and soft drinks that I liked too, not least the lemonade from Cawston, sharp and delicious, and the yummy rhubarb and apple. It was equally nice to celebrate a month of the booze with a whole bottle of cava on Sunday, leaving me a tad tipsy and struggling to make sense in tweets.

I think @tattooed_mummy has been celebrating the end of #DryJanuary! 😂 pic.twitter.com/CBrH20UTX1
— Samantha Gouldson (@SamGouldson) February 1, 2015

The experience of dry January has meant I plan to go back to only drinking alcohol at weekends, and sticking with my new non-alcoholic discoveries in the week. This is partly down to health but more down to my weight! Since before Christmas extra lard seems to have been sneaking its way under my skin in that cunning way it does. As you will remember I found a nice free diet app to help me keep track of what I was eating, and by cutting down I’ve so far lost half a stone in January. I hope to continue the slow weight loss until I’m under 10 stone, at which point I will be less strict with my diet but still keep an eye on things. As a deliberate (I’m pretty sure) attack on this, people keep bringing cakes into work, I am resisting.

I received my tower of London poppy back in January and finally put it all together and set it in a plant pot (next to my home-grown avocado) in the conservatory, it’s giving a splash of colour and reminding us daily of the futility of war – not that anyone in power seems to have noticed that, but still…

My tower poppy finally in place, with it's avocado friend. #towerpoppies @TowerPoppies pic.twitter.com/2OuoDb3GDt
— Tattooed_Mummy (@tattooed_mummy) January 31, 2015

On Friday DD bravely had a 3rd tooth extracted – ready for her new braces, in preparation for gorgeous film star teeth, I’ve promised she can have them whitened too when they are finally straight, people will mistake her for an American!

On Saturday we had a teensy bit of snow that barely hung around long enough for comment.

Our Dogs, RIP

On Sunday afternoon Mr TM foolishly mentioned he had been toying with the idea of getting a dog again. It’s been over a year since we lost our last dog and the house is ominously hair and mud free, his daily walks are boring and I think he would like to remedy all that. Of course DD and I were way too excited and keen and instantly began scouring lists of rescue dogs. Initially put off rescue when we saw some of the ‘rules’ the smaller charities had, we were heartened to see that the Dogs Trust is keener on making sure dogs and people are matched up and happy than in red tape, also the adoption fee was much less! Mr TM has now forbidden us to speak of dogs again until he’s made up his mind. This is me not saying that there are some extremely cute dogs at the Dogs Trust…and if we got one (which I’m not talking about) she would probably be a small, cute, young female, not a Jack Russell …maybe a staffy…but as I said…I’m not talking about dogs.

My fifteen festive favourites

I’ve been tagged to do my Festive Favourites by Liz at Expression and Confession. I enjoyed reading hers (Cheese!!)  so here are mine:

Favourite Festive Food. A difficult one to start as I love all Christmas food. I like turkey and roast potatoes and parsnips and gravy, stuffing, bacon, even sprouts. But as you can have roasts most of the year without anyone commenting, I'll go with mince pies. I do love a mince pie. This year we've been making our own (though shop bought mincemeat!) as the commercial ones all seem too sweet.

Favourite Reindeer. A what? Hmm can I say a dead one? You can eat reindeer and I haven't tried it yet. I hope it's nicer than moose.

Favourite Day of Christmas. I like Christmas Day. But specifically the afternoon, after the dinner is eaten and cleared away, we can have a mince pie, a glass of cava and sit around the tree and open our presents. Lovely. Then a movie and a snooze, maybe more cava. I can't wait.

Favourite Christmas Song. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen has been a favourite of mine for years, great up beat tune, glad tidings and a reminder of why we are partying. Love it.

Favourite Present:I blogged once about my worst christmas present. My best very Christmas present was my favourite toy as a child, Action Girl and her Horse. Absolutely brilliant. Still prefer her to Barbie and Sindy, and am not averse to having a sneaky game with her even now.

Favourite Festive Film.i used to adore Polar Express and forced my family to watch it every I year. It's still high on the list but recently my husband has converted me to repeated watching of Planes, Trains and Automobiles, with the genius that was John Candy. Not strictly a Christmas film as it's about Thanksgiving, but close enough.

Favourite Festive Cracker Toy. Fortune telling fish. No contest.

Favourite Cracker Joke. Where does a baby chimp sleep? In an apricot. It's my favourite because I didn't get it for years, I think I first heard it when I was about 6 and didn't get it until I was in my 20s lol

Favourite Christmas Decoration. I have a pair of tiny felt slippers that were inherited from my grandma. They are decorative only but of course I tried to wear them as a toddler and then DD tried the same trick. They have many family memories.

Favourite Christmas Candle Scent. Due to reasons we won't go into here, I'm not allowed candles. It's not something I'm proud of. If pushed I'll pick cinnamon and apple,

Favourite Christmas TV Advert. I pride myself on not having seen any (we watch almost everything on delay or prerecorded so we can skip them) but I did catch a glimpse of a family dinner where they were using a gravy boat shaped like the Titanic...I WANT that gravy boat. So who ever that was for, I pick that one.

Favourite Festive Tradition. I still like hanging the stocking with my daughter, and thinking of what Santa will bring, I think it's a shame he never gets to see if she likes what he brings, he always picks good stuff and it can be hard to get things that fit into a stocking.

Favourite Place to Spend Christmas. Home. Though if anyone wanted to send me somewhere warm, all inclusive I'd be willing to give it a go...just to check.

Favourite Christmas Fact. I like the whole St Nicholas story. The mix of fact and fiction that surrounds it.

Copyright: olgacov / 123RF Stock Photo

Favourite Snowman Accessory. A carrot of course, so many places you can use use it...though you may have to add snowballs too.

I’m tagging the following to do their festive favourites and looking forward to reading them!

Rachel at  http://rachelinreallife.co.uk/

Vicky at http://aroundandupsidedown.co.uk/

Chimping Dandy at  http://thechimpingdandy.blogspot.co.uk/

and Tammy at http://tlcukjourney.blogspot.co.uk/

Get blogging and pass it on!!

Christmas Fun

Now that DD is a grownup teen we don't do so many of the fun little Christmas things we did when she was small. Partly because she is older and partly as I'm back at work full time.

I sort of miss the messy glitter, the cotton wool stuck to fingers with PVA glue. Maybe that's why this year I did the silly little present a day advent calendar!

I received an email today with some fun Christmas ideas so I'm going to share in the hope you can do some, because trust me one day your little monsters children will be all grown up and you'll miss it all - no really!

So here are some ideas from  London’s most trusted nanny agency , giving their tips on how to make Christmas truly magical:-

Make Christmas Crafts
Letting your children loose with some craft supplies or making handmade Christmas decorations together is a great way to bond and get excited for the arrival of Father Christmas. Whether it’s paper snowflakes or something larger such as painting a model of a Christmas tree, it’s a fun way to pass some time and talk about the jolly season. (it may also cause you to need a new carpet, and will ensure a house full of glitter well into February, but that's half the fun!) Red Ted Art is my go to crafting blog for ideas!

Bake Christmas cookies
Kids always love baking, but especially at Christmas time! Christmas eve can be a great day to bake, as you can leave some of the treats for Father Christmas to enjoy. Festive shaped cookie cutters are quite easy to find, such as stars or holly, and are fun to decorate too. If you are having guests over for Christmas dinner or a party on Boxing day, you can bake a large batch and the children can be proud to show off their baking skills to family and friends. I have a great no spread (and no chill!) cookie recipe here - we will be making some for Christmas this year.

Copyright: katyjay / 123RF Stock Photo

Make traditions
Every family has its own traditions – what’s your Christmas tradition? Does everyone own Christmas pyjamas or a onesie that you all wear on Christmas eve? How about writing and sending letters to the North Pole on 1^st Dec without fail, or attending your local nativity as a family? Perhaps you always go to the London light switch on and even invite your daily nanny to join in the festive celebrations. A Christmas tradition will make it feel like a special time of year. We sort of started a 'new pyjamas on Christmas eve' tradition a few years ago, and we always watch a family movie together, with snacks and hot chocolate (or booze!) on Christmas eve. I also try to continue my family tradition of opening Christmas presents after lunch on Christmas day, but I'm fighting a losing battle!

What are your ideas for the perfect Christmas? And are there any things you miss from your childhood, or when your children were younger?
 

Chore Wars

I wasn't going to talk about it, I turned down a company who asked me to talk about women doing the lions share of the housework. I saw posts on twitter about it, I read blog posts about it, but I stayed strong. I didn't blog about it. And then today, finally, a radio ad for Woman's Hour (a show I've appeared on and yet loathe) broke me. So here I am.

Chore Wars

How ridiculous. Are women really so feeble we can't ask a bloke to help if we need to? Are men really so lazy and feckless they just lay around watching footie and drinking beer from the can, unless poked by a feisty female?

I don't think so. I think we are grown ups. I think that mothers raise sons and we raise them to be equals in a relationship, just as we raise our girls. I hope that mothers of boys (I only have a daughter) teach them to cook, clean, wash up, split the laundry into lights and darks, and how to handle babies just as I teach my daughter.

I hope other mothers of daughters are teaching their girls how to light real fires, check their oil and antifreeze levels (ooh must take car to garage - don't let me forget) I hope they are learning to change a wheel, use power tools and mow lawns with stripes.

I think the constant bashing of men as lazy hurts us all and the frequent martyr language of the long suffering mum at home does the same. Are you a couple? Then you are a partnership. You split the chores and housework as best suits you, as a partnership. Your gender is irrelevant. You are a team. Pull together, face the world, win.

In my house there is a full time worker and a stay at home partner who does the majority of the housework and looks after DD. This has worked for us as a family for 14 years.

The fact that it's me that works and DH that knows how the washing machine works, is neither here nor there.

A Day out on Brighton Pier

The last few days of my annual leave and we decided to visit Brighton Pier. It's only a half an hours drive away and we always sort of forget it's there!

We parked up near Kemptown where the all day charge is £5 (unlike on the seafront where it's £15) and walked down to the sea via flea markets and charity shops, browsing as we went. Lots of taxidermy but none created such a desire to own them as the moose head I'd seen in Lewes the day before (I now have a serious moose head obsession - I think the hallway needs a moose head)

 After a nice lunch in a Kemptown cafe/restaurant (lovely plaice and chips for me, disappointing burger for DD, cheese sandwich for DH ...maybe wine...yes yes there was wine!) we wandered down to the pier.

Don't Blink

 Brighton pier is free to walk on, and there are free deckchairs too. So on a warm or sunny  day (it wasn't cold but neither was it sunny on the day we visited) it's a great cheap way to 'people watch'. There are all the usual seaside fun things to do, buy food (whelks, cockles, prawns etc or donuts, waffles, frozen yoghurt with fruit, rock) or buy souvenirs (sunglasses, jewellery, temporary tattoos, cuddly toys) There are stalls to win things (tiny crap cuddly toys unless you win 1000 times!) by flinging balls at cans or shooting arrows from a bow, or even as easy as hooking a duck.

 There are amusements, all the usual fun of the fair, fortune telling machines, coin shove games, air hockey (including a new one that throws load of pucks onto the table at once! It looked awesome!), slot machines, shooting and driving games.

 There are places to have your picture taken peeping through comedy pictures, and then, finally, at the far end, the fun fair rides.

I can't praise Brighton Pier highly enough. The rides are great fun and a wrist band for UNLIMITED rides is only £15 - after 4 rides the rest are 'free' - The rides are priced by 'token' - a token is £1 and the number of tokens varies but to ride all of the adult thrill rides would cost £42 in tokens.

DD and I got wristbands and were suitably terrified on the Crazy Mouse (each corner looks like you will be flung into the sea), looped the loop on the Turbo Coaster, DD nearly wet herself in terror on the Horror Hotel, but no one would have noticed as we had wet backsides from the Wild River log flume! We rode the dodgems (ace driving by me obviously) and had several rides on the amazingly fun Galactica, we even had a ride on the golden horses of the Carousel.

We were really impressed with the rides and the price, lots more choice and cheaper than Butlins (our next closest 'theme park' style location. We are already planning a full day there to make use of the unlimited rides.

DD finished off the trip with a waffle.... on a stick.

The great British seaside day out wins!

Christmas Shopping, joy to the world? or hell on earth?

I did most of my Christmas shopping online this year.

Previous experiences of having no clue what to buy and wandering shops for ideas or, worse, having in mind the perfect gift but not being able to find it, even after traipsing through shop after shop, braving the 'over door heater' that cooks you on entry, had put me off.

Online I could browse in comfort, search pinterest, facebook and twitter for clues dropped by friends and relatives, search for ideas suggested by others and natter to online mates as I did so. Oh and I could get drunk as I did so, as there was no driving...

Festivals, Camping, Spring, Summer. I can't WAIT!!!

So, half an hour of lunchtime left, time for a quick blog about camping and festivals because it's snowing and I am missing being under canvas.

Yes the joy of canvas - and when I say that I'm not euphemistically referring to all tents, I actually own two proper canvas tents. I have a nylon tent too and it's fine, waterproof, light, easy to erect (steady!) but it's not really the same. it doesn't have the authentic camping feel, it has the wrong smell. Ah the smell of a canvas tent, the lovely warm summer smell of the tent as it warms in the sun, or the autumn smell as it dries after rain. Rain which on a nylon tent is noisy but in a canvas tent has an oddly solid 'thump' to each drop, leaving one to assume that the Armageddon of storms is taking place when actually it's a light shower. At least the wind doesn't bend the firm steel poles of my canvas tent though. The canvas might snap and crack like a whip but the tent stays firm in the onslaught of a spring wind.

I am longing to get out in the tent (and to test my new storm kettle!) with my long suffering DD (the darling husband stays home (more sense than TM & DD I bet you are muttering) but it's so close to festival season, costumes are being bought, supplies are being listed (cans of G&T and Pims mostly), soon the tents will be checked.

The first festival I'm off to is the Magical Faery Festival in Findon, Sussex. Sounds delightful, a fine excuse to dance skyclad or in ethereal faery garb to mystical music in a field of green. Here's hoping for fine weather, fine food, fine wines and average toilets.

Many people are put off attending a festival due to the whole 'portable chemical toilets' thing, I can sort of understand that but the first festival I attended was Eastern Haze, DD was 8, it rained and rained, no one could get lorries on site to clean the loos, by day 3 the poop was a foot higher than the seat (who looks at a pile of poop in a festival toilet and thinks "hmm if I hover I can squeeze another one on there"?) and after that, all festival loos appear amazingly clean! and just in case of disaster we take the 'ShitBox' (never had to use it but it's a comfort to know it's there) and Sheewees of course!

After the Faery Festival DD and I are off to Glastonbury of course - and we are so excited we can hardly breathe. More of that in later blog posts.

Then we have tickets booked for Camp Bestival, a true 'middle class mummy' joy of a festival, eco loos, baby changing and breastfeeding tents, Pims on the castle lawn, Jousting, flowers, art, literature, ballet and some good old fashioned music. Love this festival to pieces and will be taking painted festival tent, as we will to the Faery festival - not so sure about Glastonbury, I'm a bit concerned about tent safety (and my lovely canvas being weed on, so may buy a new cheap yet funky tent for Glasto)

And then only the next weekend we will be off to Wilderness, smaller but just as lovely, boating on the lake, smoothies for breakfast, flushing toilets. A gorgeous festival.

And at each festival you find me, erecting the tent, sometimes with help from DD, making it look easy (considering I'm 'only a girl' and then having a celebratory beer.(top tip here - always erect your tent at least once before you go - it saves looking like a tit that has no clue what they are up to and checks no bits are missing!)

Spring, Summer, Festivals, Camping. I simply cannot wait. Are you coming? Should I bring extra Pims?

Dressing up for World Book Day

I love dressing up. Yeah I hear your filthy giggles and see your smirks, well I don't even care! I like dressing up, any excuse and I'll try and find a costume to suit. Sadly I'm old and when you are old the chances to dress us recede (unless you just go the whole 'crazy old lady' route and wear a ballgown and tiara to do the weekly shop) 

but when you are young... oh the opportunities are endless and schools even encourage it with the rather fabulous World Book Day - encouraging young readers to choose their favourite book and dress in character for a day - I don't mind admitting I wish I was at school and if I was I'd be dressed as Sir Samuel Vimes' good lady, Sybil  (and only then as I'd look silly as Sam Vimes himself) ..but alas, I am not.

But dear readers, I know many of you (like me) have adorably cute offspring that are probably already trying to convince you to get them the perfect costume for WBD. And that's where this handy blog post comes in, because, via the medium of Twitter I discovered a rather awesome online fancy dress shop called Simply Fancy Dress! 

They kindly sent me a costume for the lovely DD to review but I need to tell you all about the site anyway because it's ace! Go on CLICK this link and take a look, I'll wait, no actually I won't - click it in a minute, because if you go there now you'll be ages and ages as it's such fun to hunt and browse around! They have the usual daft hen and stag fancy dress of course (much of it pretty tasteless, but there's hen and stag dos for you) but they also have some rather super child costumes, they even handily divide them into sections to make the search simpler (hang on SIMPLY Fancy Dress - the clue was in the name all the time!)

Horrid Henry Costume

So you can look at the likes of Horrid Henry costumes to simple Red Riding Hood and anything else that takes your fancy and childrens book day costumes start from £3.95 with £3.99 delivery! Honestly I was impressed - I wish I'd known about them for Tudor day!

Musketeer Costume

Look at this Brave Musketeer for only £17.99 I can't help wishing I knew some boys to dress up as the Three Musketeers!

Or maybe you have a girl who simply adores "How to Train Your Dragon" , (Viking Girl £16.99)

or a fan of Harry Potter,  I was roaming the site for ages. They have all sorts of great accessories too so if your costume is 'almost perfect' they probably have that last little finishing touch you need, like a pair of glasses or make up (including some zombie and vampire stuff to turn your stomach!)

Of course you are all dying to see DD in her glorious costume - so here she is looking rather glam in this Teen outfit which we were impressed to find included the tights, mask, dress and wings for my little butterfly daughter. The outfit is really nicely made too and was all packaged nicely. I always think that costumes, especially for small kids (but also for those like me that just LOVE to dress up) are a great fun present too - opening a whole world of imaginative fun.

 

 

 And if you don't have kids but have a dog...actually if you don't have a dog, buy a dog, just so you can dress it in this!

Raptor Dog Costume(sadly now no longer available)

Disclosure: I was sent a free costume in return for my review but the post contains only my own thoughts on the Simply Fancy Dress website!

I leave the last word on the fun of fancy dress to DD